Abstract: Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Despite the negative
physical, psychological, social, academic, and financial effects of childhood obesity, few
programs have been implemented successfully to address this burgeoning problem. The
effects of a three-component intervention model, Life Fit, were examined. Participants
included three 9 to 10 year old females who were overweight. The 10 week intervention
consisted of two 2 hour sessions per week which included the following components:
nutritional education, physical fitness, and cognitive-behavioral therapy.
This research was conducted as a single case study AB design. Data was
collected on each of the following variables: nutritional measures (self-reported servings
of fruits and vegetables and number of servings of sweetened beverages and sodas),
physical fitness (cardiorespiratory endurance, upper body muscular strength and
abdominal strength), anthropometric measure (BMI), physical activity levels (average
daily pedometer counts), sedentary activity levels (number of self-reported hours in
specific sedentary activities), self-concept (Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale (MSCS; Bracken, 1992), and body image (The Body Esteem Scale for Children (Mendelson &
White, 1994).
Data were interpreted using a visual inspection of graphed outcomes. Results
revealed that participants improved their upper body endurance and cardiorespiratory
fitness. All participants maintained their pre-intervention BMI. There were no
improvements noted in the other measures. Limitations and implications for future
research will be discussed in the paper.